human attention is expensive.
ai made it easier to generate text: summaries, documents, plans, reviews, explanations…
but it did not make reading cheaper.
people still need time to understand what matters, filter what does not, and decide what to do next.
that is the part i want to remember.
more text is not more value
when text is easy to generate, it is easy to send too much.
a long message can look useful because it has structure. a generated document can look complete because it sounds confident.
but if the sender does not filter it, the reader has to.
the effort does not disappear.
it moves to someone else.
good communication gives direction
before asking someone to read something, the question should be simple:
“am i making this easier for them?”
that might mean writing less.
it might mean adding a short summary.
it might mean highlighting the only part that needs attention.
the goal is not to produce more text.
the goal is to lower the cost of understanding.